


The Sweet Pain In My Chest

by orphan_account



Category: After School (Band)
Genre: F/F, Families of Choice, Homelessness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-30
Updated: 2017-01-30
Packaged: 2018-09-20 21:49:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9517556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: They've been squatting in the alleyway behind a salon for two or three days when Jiyoung finds them.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was originally posted in 2012 and has underwent minor revision since. The title is from "Don't Blame Someone Else" by SKE48.

They've been squatting in the alleyway behind a salon for two or three days -- it's hard to tell, now; sometimes Sooyoung will find loose pages from newspapers in the gutters, but even when the dates are legible, who knows how long they've been laying there? -- when Jiyoung finds them. Her legs are long, toned, her outfit impeccable, her shoes shiny and noisy when she approaches them; she can't be more than thirty.

"Do you have homes?" she asks bluntly, not unkind but not friendly, either, and when Jinah looks to Sooyoung for an answer, Sooyoung starts playing with the baggy sleeve of Jinah's sweater -- well, it's not really Jinah's sweater, they share it, but it's arguably the nicest article of clothing between the two of them, and if they were wandering the streets for pleasure and not out of necessity, Jinah would look like she'd belong in a photoshoot -- and barely meets Jiyoung's eyes when she says, "No."

"Would you like to?"

"Of course we would," Sooyoung bites. "Why are you asking?"

"Would you like to live with me?" Jiyoung clarifies. "I don't take in drug users, anyone over the age of thirty, or anyone with a serious criminal record -- but you girls don't look the type."

"Do you take in lesbians?" Sooyoung glares. If it was enough of a reason for their parents to throw them out onto the streets, then why should she expect this -- this _socialite_ to be any different?

Jiyoung doesn't miss a beat, but she does laugh. "Ask my girlfriend."

\--

Sooyoung is too proud to cry and Jinah is too exhausted to do anything but make a little noise of surprise when Jiyoung pulls up to her house, but when Jungah -- a kind, motherly figure, the very opposite of Jiyoung's intimidating exterior -- shows them to their rooms after they've eaten and bathed, Sooyoung can feel her stomach sink in disappoint.

"Can't I room with Jinah?" she asks Jungah.

"I would love for you two to have your own room," she sighs, "but Jiyoung is strict about sleeping arrangements, as you might imagine. Your roommate shouldn't give you much trouble, though, and you'll see Jinah in the mornings and afternoons if you choose to."

"Who's my roommate, then?" Sooyoung knows that she sounds sulky, but she can't help.

"Yoojin," she answers. "Her last roommate moved out a few weeks ago -- back to the states, actually -- so I'm sure she'll appreciate the company."

As it turns out, she doesn't. Yoojin is gorgeous, but she tempers it with -- well, a temper, and if Sooyoung hadn't been aware of Bekah before, she is now. Yoojin sings her praises every time that she and Sooyoung occupy the same room together, and while she's on her best behavior around Jiyoung and Jungah, she's icy in the bedroom.

Sooyoung wishes she could have roomed with Hyerin or Leeyoung. At least they have guitars.

\--

Jinah, thankfully, is roommates with a much nicer girl -- Jooyeon, who likes cats ("Jiyoung won't let us keep pets," she says sullenly on their way back to their bedroom, before she brightens and finishes, "but I have a lot of pictures of cats on my cell phone!") and taking softly lit photos of herself in the bathroom mirror and, as Sooyoung quickly finds out, clinging to Jinah like a spider monkey.

"Are you two lovers?" Sooyoung sneers at them when she sneaks into their bedroom for the first time and sees them drowsing with the lights still on, Jinah's stupidly long legs dangling off the end of the bed and Jooyeon's nose pressed to the back of Jinah's head like she's smelling her hair or something equally obnoxious to Sooyoung in that moment.

"Nope!" Jooyeon says cheerily even with her eyes closed and her body language as relaxed as Sooyoung wishes she could be.

Jinah opens her eyes and looks at Sooyoung apologetically.

\--

It's a small victory, but after months of sleeping alone, Sooyoung wakes up to Jungah packing her things up -- and Sooyoung has _things_ now, small things like books and keychains and perfumes but things that she can call her own again -- in a bag.

"Am I leaving?" she asks, still half-asleep, the dread and fear not quite having sunk in yet.

"No," Jungah tells her, smiling. "Jiyoung decided Yoojin would be a better fit with Jooyeon, so you'll have to room with Jinah now. I hope that's alright."

\--

Alright? It's perfect.


End file.
